


The Secrets on Your Split Tongue

by teejplease



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Heavy Angst, Major character death - Freeform, Romance, Zombie Apocalypse, chako - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teejplease/pseuds/teejplease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow there are stories of them traveling around the ranks of survivors: the tall, muscled man followed by an even deadlier beauty.  They talk about how being one of theirs means more danger and more confrontations than most.  They talk about how Chuck can swing an empty shotgun like a hammer and Mako can dance between the undead.</p><p>Chuck doesn't care for any of those stories.  He only knows that  when he sees her ragged, blood-streaked hair out of the corner of his eye in the midst of a fight, he feels something like happiness. </p><p>-</p><p>Or, the zombie apocalypse!AU starring Chuck and Mako.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Secrets on Your Split Tongue

In another world, Chuck and Mako meet each other in an army base, both knowing about the monsters that churn in the sea and driven by the need to  _end_ the aliens.  In that world, Chuck dies in a blast that takes Mako’s sensei from her.  In that world, Mako does what she always does and pushes back her shoulders, grits her teeth and ignores the rift yawning inside of her: grief-shaped and ocean deep.  She marries Raleigh Becket and they name their children after their losses.  They live with ghosts.  

This world is not that; there is no crevice in the sea, electric blue and shaking from giant monsters.  

This world faces something else entirely.  

Who knows?  Maybe Chuck and Mako were always meant to face some calamity.  Maybe theirs was always meant to be a trial by fire.

-

Chuck managed a scoff when a blade cut through the neck of the deado coming towards him.  ”Thanks, Mulan.”

Mako pursed her lips, glaring at him as she spun the sword in her grasp to skewer an approaching zombie.  

He laughed at her apparent ire.  A lot of the other survivors thought her calm and quiet (some even muttering that the only thing separating her from the hordes of undead was the lack of hunger for living flesh).  Chuck knew differently - Mako was like a deep lake: calm on the surface but churning down in her depths.  It was only in moments like these that that her true rage and emotional struggle showed visibly, when she was splattered with blood and wielding her weapon of choice.

It was only in moments like these that Chuck admitted to himself that he was not just a little bit in love with her.  

In another world, they would be too young to be the leaders of their gaggle of survivors but that was not this world.  They were both young and healthy (despite the wandering lifestyle they both lived).  Amazingly enough, they had both been raised on army bases and were trained better for the world’s current apocalyptic state than most.  

Chuck was believed to be the alpha in their pairring but it was not so.  Chuck was smart and had a head for tactically know-how, but Mako was smarter.  It was only through her ingenuity and dedication that they had managed to survive for this long.  

(She was the stronger of the two, too.  She was the one in the earlier days who had smothered one of their compatriots who had gotten bitten.  Chuck had simply clenched his jaw and looked away.)

In another world, perhaps they could be happy with each other, live in the countryside and raise ginger-haired children with exotic eyes.

In another world, maybe it would never come to this:

Chuck shot a bloodthirsty grin to Mako, both of their chests heaving with the strain of their skirmish.  

"It’s always nice to get a little exercise in the morning, eh, Mako?" he slung an arm around her slighter shoulders, relishing in their closeness. Chuck imagined that if they had met under different circumstances, she’d push him away, complaining of his sweatiness.

(He’d be wrong.)

"You think we’ll find some beer in this dump?" he asked her, holstering his weapon.  

"Probably," she replied, swinging her sword absentmindedly back and forth, matching their strides.  

Quickly they began telling the rest of their group what to scavenge from the liquor store.  They watched as the group separated into pairs (the only smart way to go about it), the two of them moving towards the liquor section, Mako’s lips twisting into a small amused smile at Chuck’s cry of happiness.

"You know, neither of us are on shift tonight," he stood and pulled her into his arms, spinning them with his dimples flashing.  He pressed his forehead to hers.  "We could take some of this liquid gold and have us a little party."

Mako’s dimples showed in kind.  ”We could,” she allowed, playfully nipping at her lover’s chin.

Chuck cheered again.  ”You like this girly shit, right?” he joked, holding up some schnapps.  He chuckled at Mako’s exasperated sigh.  ”Alright, killer,” he replied, reaching for the jaegermeister.

It happened so fast.  

Maybe Chuck and Mako were always meant to face some calamity.  Maybe theirs was always meant to be a trial by fire.

In another world, large extraterrestrials rip through Earth, breaking much that they both hold dear.  Mako manages to survive, though she is constantly having to push back her shoulders against the strain of loss.

This is not that world.  

"Fuck!" Chuck fell back, lifting the bottle of jaeger towards the zombie that had pushed through the closed freezer door next to them.  

Mako was always the better fighter of the two.  It wasn’t a surprise that she got to the large undead creature before he could land on Chuck with a snarl.  

It was a routine fight.  Mako scuffled with the zombie before the familiar song of her blade moving through the air was heard.  The body collapsed into the ground so swiftly it would have been comical in other circumstances.  

In fact, Chuck gave a relieved chuckle.  ”That was close,” he let his head fall back against the ground, clutching the bottle to his chest.  Miraculously, it had not broken during the melee.  

"Chuck," Mako’s voice broke over the single syllable.

He sat up, immediately on alert.  ”Oh, no,” he moaned, scrambling up, his arms reaching towards her.  A broken noise escaped him when she stepped back.  ”Oh, darling, _no_.”

 _Darling_ \- the thing he only allowed himself to call her when they were alone in the dark, bodies moving in sync.  

This is a little like that dark.  

They both motion away their troops that had come running at the noise the fight had caused.  One of the girls began sobbing.  Chuck could hear her as the others lead her away.

His eyes never left the bite marring Mako’s forearm.  He grabbed at her, clutching her close to him.  ”Maybe we can - you don’t need that hand.”

Mako gave him a sad smile.  ”You know that it’s already too late for that.”

She was right, of course.  She was _always_ right (and he has never hated that fact before until this moment) - she was the smarter of the two of them.  Her blood was pumping too fast from the fight for it to do her any good. 

"Please," he begged, the word muffled by her hair.  "Please, darling, I can’t do it without you."

Mako pressed her forehead against his chin.  ”You know you can.  You’re strong.”

"Not as strong as you," he wanted to shake her.  Where was the warrior woman who had stolen his heart?  She was just going to give up?

She shrugged - a plebeian gesture she had picked up from him.  ”You’re going to have to be.”  She unholstered his weapon, pressing it into his hands.

"No," he shook his head, pulling away.  He grabbed at his hair, agonizing.  "No!  I can’t.   _I won’t!_ ”

Mako was always the stronger of the two.  

She gave him another sad smile.  Too late, he recognized the resolve shining out of her eyes.

"Mako, don’t!  _Please!_ I love-!"

She fell on her sword.

-

The group of survivors shuddered when they heard Chuck’s mournful howl, winding around them like a ghost, rose-scented and moving like a young woman from Tokyo.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not ashamed to say that I cried while writing this so I'm not surprised to keep finding errors every time I look this over. Going to keep tweaking as needed. Please let me know if you find anything else I missed. Thank you.


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